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Bose Soundbar 500 vs Vizio V Series V21-H8

Bose Soundbar 500

Bose Soundbar 500

94 reviews

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Vizio V Series V21-H8

Vizio V Series V21-H8

121 reviews

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#51 most mentioned

Reddit · r/soundbars

Best Soundbar Under $200 For Bass

RTINGS · The 5 Best Budget Soundbars

Best Cinematic Experience On a Tight Budget

TechGearLab · Best Sound Bar of 2022

Great replacement to TV's built-in speakers

Lots of flexibility with the built-in Alexa function

Well-balanced and neutral sound profile

Rich, clear audio

Easy to set up and use

Great sound quality for the price

Powerful bass and expressive midrange

Easy to set up

Fast UI performance

Compact size, great for small spaces

Not as loud as other soundbars

Lacks sub-bass

Can be difficult to reset if needed

Not ideal for linking other devices via Bluetooth

Reports of sound quality issues after some time of use

Remote can be difficult to open

Verdict

The Bose Soundbar 500 is a great soundbar for those looking for a replacement to their TV's built-in speakers. It offers lots of flexibility with the built-in Alexa function and has a well-balanced and neutral sound profile. However, some may find that it lacks sub-bass and can be difficult to reset if needed.

Verdict

The Vizio V Series V21-H8 is a great soundbar for the price, offering powerful bass and an expressive midrange. It is easy to set up and has a fast UI performance. However, it can be difficult to link other devices via Bluetooth and there have been reports of sound quality issues after some time of use.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Speaker System

youtube

Bose Soundbar 500 Review | Small Soundbar, Big Commitment

But this little soundbar is a big commitment. As you can see, the Bose 500 starts with minimalism right when you pull it out of the box. This is a sma...

Negative

Vizio V21 review: Best soundbar under $200

5mm analog input and another, all-new 3.5mm connection for your "voice assistant speaker" (read: Amazon Echo Dot). Ty Pendlebury/CNETThe idea behind the "VA" (voice activated) input is noble enough. You connect your smart speaker to this port and the soundbar switches to the input automatically when it hears a command

Positive

Speakers

youtube

Bose Home Speaker 500 Review - Impressive, Most Impressive

With a lot of older smart speakers whether they were team Alexa or team Google you were sometimes forced to use voice commands cause those speakers ju...

Negative

The Roku Smart Soundbar seemed like the perfect solution. I used it for a few weeks and ended up returning it. Here is what I experienced:

Positive

reddit.com/r/Roku

Sound Quality

Bose Soundbar 500

The Bose Soundbar 500 is an okay soundbar when used by itself without the separate sub and back satellites. It doesn’t get as loud as other soundbars but its sound profile is fairly well-balanced and neutral sounding. However, some may feel like this bar lacks sub-bass. On top of not being able to get very loud, it has trouble performing at max volume, and compresses a lot, especially in the bass range

Neutral

youtube

DO NOT BUY - VIZIO V-Series 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar With Wireless Subwoofer - Model V21-H8

It's the model number v821-h8 and it was at a pretty nice deal actually 159.99, not necessarily a steal of a deal based upon what costco can often giv...

Neutral

Connectivity

to work some of the times. This is usually a pretty big hassle (ends up taking 15-20 minutes of fiddling to get audio) and I just end up unplugging the soundbar and plugging it back in. Very rarely has the soundbar worked flawlessly from the time the tv is turned on. Sometimes, even if the soundbar starts working when the tv is switched on, the audio cuts out after 5-6 minutes of usage, and I’m back to unplugging and plugging it back in for it to work

Negative

reddit.com/r/bose

Do Vizio soundbars support changing the volume using Google Home?

I have v21 h8 and it is been very difficult to set up. Assistant can link via Bluetooth but then you cannot have other devices link to the soundbar. There is voice assistant aux in but sadly no ga gh product has 3.5 mm jack

Negative

reddit.com/r/googlehome

Remote Control

CEC (aka ARC HDMI) not responsive after 6 months

Unfortunately that’s multiple remotes but I recently bought an Apple TV device and that can control other devices via IR (similar to what Logitech does with their fancy remote).

Vizio Customer Service scores ZERO

After extensive research for soundbar/subwoofer ordered a Vizio. Pre-read quick guide prior to arrival. Got all & was baffled at remote being impossible to open, so after googling & still couldn’t open, called Vizio. Connection to wherever the call goes to was hardly audible, finally Rep suggested I use a small coin to pry the remote open, which I gently did, and the the ENTIRE remote fell apart with pieces flying everywhere, and her suggestion was then for me to just not use the remote

Features

LOUD. Great for the theatre room

This thing is powerful! I bought it for the Bose quality and because it had Bluetooth capability. I'm using it for a theater room and using a Bluetooth transmitter to run sound from the projector to the speakers wirelessly. So far it works like a charm and pairs nicely with the surround sound speakers. Great sound for the big screen

youtube

VIZIO V21-H8 36" SOUNDBAR W/ SUBWOOFER | COSTCO

Wireless subwoofer that looks top of the line, looks modern and small. You can place it anywhere in that room as well. Has the better options than the...

Positive

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